5th September 2022
Closing Bell - Grady Wulff
The Australian market rebounded from last week’s loss to start the trading week in positive territory, ending Monday’s session up 0.34%.
ASX-listed oil stocks had investors piling in today after the G-7 agreed to impose a price cap on Russian oil to reduce Russia’s revenue from the key commodity used toward funding its war in Ukraine. Russia responded by saying it will stop selling oil to countries that set price caps which fuelled the rally for energy stocks today with Beach Energy (ASX:BPT) soared more than 5% during the session, while Woodside Energy (ASX:WDS) added more than 3% and Santos (ASX:STO) rallied almost 3%.
The price of oil also jumped over 2% today extending gains as investors anticipate possible moved by OPEC+ producers to cut output and support prices at a meeting later today.
The winning stocks for today’s session were Coronado Global Resources (ASX:CRN) up 7.5%, and Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC) up 6.5%, as investors also piled into coal mining stocks today on the back of the price of coal soaring to a near-record high US$435 per tonne. And on the losing front, Imugene (ASX:IMU) took the biggest hit today, tumbling more than 8% despite no price sensitive news released by the biotech company today. Pointsbet Holdings (ASX:PBH) continued its decline today, shedding 6.4% and Life360 (ASX:360) was also in the firing line of investors today, with its share price closing the day down almost 5%.
The most traded stocks by Bell Direct clients today were Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS), Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC), and Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA).
Taking a look at economic data released today, ANZ job ads data for the month of August showed Australia’s tight labour market continues as the number of job ads posted in the month increased 2%. In Australia at present, there are more jobs than job seekers and the latest job ads data for August is further evidence that the labour shortage crisis is far from over. Data for new vehicle sales in August was also released today, showing August was the best month for new car sales since 2017, signalling demand for vehicles continues to outweigh supply. Electric vehicle sales for the month reached a record 4.4% of all new vehicles sold.
The US market will be closed overnight for the labour day national holiday. Locally, investors will be eagerly awaiting the release of the RBA’s latest interest rate decision for September, which is out tomorrow.